Nicolas Slonimsky: Writings on Music: Slonimskyana (Nicolas Slonimsky: Writings on Music)

'This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.' Nicolas Slonimsky: The First Hundred Years celebrates America's leading musicologist, now approaching his centennial year. Still active at one hundred, Slonimsky is probably best known for his scholarly and voluminous writing, which has been indispensable to musicians worldwide. A tribute to his brilliant career as conductor, composer, teacher, and writer, The First Hundred Years reveals Slonimsky at his literary best. Slonimsky born April 27, 1894, in St. Petersburg, Russia, took his first piano lesson in 1900 and went on to study orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1937, after holding a number of musical jobs, and fourteen years after coming to America, Slonimsky published his first book, Music Since 1900. Since then, he has become the world's leading musical lexicographer, editing Baker's for over five decades. For The First Hundred Years the editors have gathered Slonimsky masterpieces including excerpts from his autobiographies, histories, biographies, musical concepts, and translations. The First Hundred Years is the only collection of Slonimsky's writings drawing together selections from Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Music Since 1900 Lexicon of Musical Invective, Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, and his autobiographical work, Perfect Pitch.

Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995) was an influential and celebrated writer on music. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1894, in his 101 years he taught and coached music; conducted the premieres of several 20th century masterpieces; composed works for piano and voice; and oversaw the 5th-8th editions of the classic Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Beginning in 1926, Slonimsky resided in the United States. From his arrival, he wrote provocative articles on contemporary music and musicians, many of whom were his personal friends. Working as a freelance author, he built a large file of reviews, articles, and even manuscripts for books that were never published. This is the fourth volume of a 4 volume collection on the best of this material.

At the beginning, it was not at all obvious how to organize this collectionof Slonimsky writings, numbering in the hundreds. Clearly, Russian andSoviet music would be central. But also American music, North and South. Modern music cuts across all geographical categories. The articles variedconsiderably in length, tone, depth, intended readership. Written overmore than fifty years, their historic perspective and writing style shift andevolve v. 1. Early articles for the Boston Evening Transcript v. 2. Russian and Soviet music and composers v.3. Music of the modern era v. 4. Slonimskyana